Gaza winter 2026: a tent now costs 2,500 shekels

The short answer

Winter in Gaza runs from about mid November to early March. The days are mild, but the nights get cold, the rain comes hard, and the wind off the sea goes straight through fabric. Most of the people around us will face it in tents that have already been through one winter, and in many cases two.

A replacement tent now costs 2,500 shekels. For a family with no income, that is not a price. It is a wall.

We are not in a tent

I want to be honest about where my family is, because this page is about numbers and numbers only mean something if you know who is counting them.

We are in a small damaged apartment in Northern Gaza. My wife, my son Ibrahim who is six, our baby daughter who was born in December 2025, and me. The glass in the windows is gone, and there is plastic sheeting where it used to be. The walls are concrete and the floor is tile, and both are cold from November on. We are lucky, and I know it.

Most of the families around us are one step below us. They are in tents, and the tents are worn out. What follows is what that means, in prices and in numbers.

What shelter costs this October

These are prices from our own market and our own budget. Shekels are converted at about 3.05 to the dollar, the rate on 3 October 2026.

Look at the third row. Everything my family needs to get through the cold, the blankets, the heater, three months of fuel, the plastic for the windows, costs about the same as one tent. A family that has lost its tent to the wind has to choose between a roof and everything else.

How many tents are still standing

On 24 September 2026 it was reported that 162,000 of the 270,000 tents sheltering displaced families across Gaza are no longer usable. That is more than 60 percent. They are torn, rotted by sun, or collapsed from being moved and pitched again too many times.

UNICEF puts the wider picture in one line: nearly 84 percent of Gaza's population, more than 1.76 million people, still live in overcrowded displacement sites or in damaged and inadequate shelters. That is the group my family belongs to. It is most of the people I know.

A tent is not built for three winters. Here it is being asked to survive its third.

Last winter, by the numbers

We know what is coming, because we lived through it last year. These are UNICEF's figures for the winter of 2025 to 2026.

Our own winter matched those numbers. The heater we had ran out of fuel in January and we could not refill it. The apartment was 8 to 10 degrees at night. Ibrahim had a chest infection in February that lasted ten days, and the cough stayed until April. My daughter was a few weeks old and slept between my wife and me for the warmth.

What a worn tent means when it rains

People outside Gaza sometimes picture a camping tent. These are not that. They are canvas and plastic on bare sand, pitched wherever there was space, often on ground lower than the road.

UNICEF describes exactly what we see from our window: many sites sit below street level, so rainwater runs in and pools around and inside the tents, and sewage overflows make it worse. A tent with a torn roof does not just let the rain in. It turns the floor into mud that the children sleep on.

The families patch what they can. They tighten the ropes, lay another sheet of plastic over the worst holes and weigh it down with stones. It holds until the first real storm.

What this winter needs, for one family

In May I wrote out exactly what my family needs before the cold, and bought what we could while prices were lower. The full list is in how my family prepares for winter. Here is what each part costs.

Winter also raises the monthly cost of living. We eat more, we burn more fuel, and the water still has to be boiled for the baby. Our normal month is $1,820. In winter it is closer to $2,150 to $2,230.

The bigger response, and where we fit

UNICEF has appealed for $97.5 million to protect 540,000 children and their families across Gaza and the West Bank from October 2026 to March 2027, with blankets, warm clothes, shelter materials and help for families at risk of flooding. If you want to support that scale of work, give to them. It matters.

What a large appeal cannot do is reach one named family this week and show you exactly what your money became. That is the only thing this page offers. You can see who we are, and we publish what each gift buys.

The bottom line

A tent costs 2,500 shekels. More than 160,000 of them are no longer usable. Last winter at least 11 children died from the cold, and 1.76 million people go into this one without proper shelter.

My family is one step above a tent, and still not ready. Six weeks is enough time to buy blankets, a heater and fuel at prices that will double in December. It is not enough time if we wait.

Questions people ask

How much does a tent cost in Gaza in 2026?

In October 2026 a new tent in Northern Gaza costs about 2,500 shekels, roughly $820 at 3.05 shekels to the dollar. That is about 1.6 times the $500 monthly rent of a damaged two room apartment, and about the same as one family's entire winter preparation of blankets, clothing, a heater and fuel.

How many people in Gaza are living without proper shelter?

According to UNICEF, nearly 84 percent of Gaza's population, more than 1.76 million people, live in overcrowded displacement sites or in damaged and inadequate shelters as winter 2026 begins.

How many tents in Gaza are still usable?

It was reported on 24 September 2026 that 162,000 of the 270,000 tents sheltering displaced families in Gaza are no longer usable, more than 60 percent. Many have been through two winters already and are torn, rotted by sun, or damaged from being moved repeatedly.

How many children died from the cold in Gaza last winter?

UNICEF reports that at least 11 children, including infants, died from hypothermia during the winter of 2025 to 2026. Major floods on 30 December 2025 and 9 January 2026 destroyed or damaged thousands of tents, with night temperatures around 8 to 11°C and winds of 30 to 40 km/h.

When does winter start in Gaza?

Winter in Gaza runs from about mid November to early March. Days are mild, but nights turn cold, heavy rain arrives, and strong winds come in off the sea. Prices for blankets, heaters and fuel usually rise sharply as the cold arrives, so preparing in October costs less than preparing in December.

What is the most useful thing to donate for winter in Gaza?

Money, rather than goods, because blankets, clothing and fuel can be bought locally and shipping goods is slow and uncertain. For one family, $30 buys a heavy blanket, $80 covers a month of heater fuel, $150 buys the heater, and $820 covers a whole winter in advance.

How can I help a family in Gaza get through the winter?

You can give to a large appeal such as UNICEF's $97.5 million winter response, or give directly to a verified family. The Al-Shanti family's fundraiser on GiveSendGo is identity verified, takes card payments with no account needed, and they publish what each gift buys.

Sources and method

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